


love struck

by freshhellorwtv



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28973673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freshhellorwtv/pseuds/freshhellorwtv
Summary: Shelby and Leah, it turns out, have more in common than they thought. Namely, they’re both disgustingly in love with their girlfriends.
Relationships: Fatin Jadmani/Leah Rilke, Leah Rilke & Shelby Goodkind, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe
Comments: 12
Kudos: 287





	love struck

Shelby and Leah, in hindsight, never hung out much. On the island, they always had buffers between them, distractions, survival to worry about. While Leah insisted that “train wrecks unite”, there were always things keeping them separate. Even in that hideous bunker, when Shelby asked to see Leah, not anyone else, they weren’t sure if they would call each other friends, exactly.

Which is why, when all the girls cancel in the days before their planned getaway – with good reason, of course – Leah and Shelby find themselves the only ones remaining, and almost cancel as well.

_ Shelby [2:07pm]: So… _

_ Leah [2:08pm]: so _

_ Fatin [2:08pm]: Y’all better not cancel smh _

And that was that.

Come Friday, as Leah packs up a small bag and Dot and Fatin hover, making sure she has all she needs, Leah is nervous. Beyond nervous. Ever since escaping the bunker, the Unsinkable Eight  _ had  _ reunited a few times, and now she lives in LA with the aforementioned chaotic duo, but she had never hung out with  _ just Shelby. _

Considering the fact that they literally saved each other’s lives countless times, she should really be more confident about this. But she’s not.

“I can’t believe you were gonna  _ cancel _ .” It’s Fatin, still ticked off. “I got roped into this last second stupid recital, or else I’d be fucking ecstatic about chilling with Shelby. Run your hand through her buzzcut for me, will you?”

“Fatin,” sighs Leah tiredly, a sound the apartment had gotten all too used to.

“She’s cooler than you think, you know,” Dot says.

“I  _ know,  _ Dot,” Leah’s exasperated, now. “I know her like the back of my hand. But shit, we’ve never hung out just the two of us. And I can’t believe you’re all gonna miss the concert.”

Dot just shrugs in return. “Duty calls.” But worry still lingers on Leah’s face.

“Babe,” Fatin says. She reaches out and gently plucks Leah’s hand from her eyebrow. She hadn’t even noticed it was there. “It’s gonna be okay. Fun, even! And Shelby’s, like, a compulsive hostess. Even though you’re gonna be in an Airbnb, bet money she’s gonna host the fuck out of it. You’ll be good. There’ll be icebreakers.” Leah weakly chuckles at that, and focuses her attention on their linked hands. It’s stupid, how nervous she is. Like she said, she knows Shelby like the back of her hand. But still.

Fatin’s other hand raises up to cup Leah’s cheek, turns her face slightly to look at her. Behind them, Dot fake gags and leaves the room when Fatin shoos her out with a quick look. God, Leah loves her. She could spend hours focusing on the feeling of Fatin’s thumb caressing her face, her fingers cupping her jaw. Leah can’t help herself. She leans in for a quick kiss, and Fatin quickly moves both her hands to the back of Leah’s neck to keep her there a little longer. When they part, Leah can already feel some of her nerves cooling down.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Fatin whispers into Leah’s mouth. And that’s that.

//

Shelby gets there first, because of course she does. She may have broken away from her toxic family, but Leah has a distinct memory of Shelby ushering the cluster from one place to another, singing “Early is on time and on time is late” as Toni laughed and placed a quick kiss on her cheek, turning Shelby into a blubbering fool. When Shelby opens the door to Leah’s knock, half of her nerves get knocked away with pure happiness at seeing the other girl again. Leah smiles widely and throws herself at the girl, remembering when she did the same when Shelby was on crutches and bald. This time, the head mashed up against her own face has grown its hair just a bit, a buzzed undercut tingling pleasantly against Leah’s skin. They stay there for a long while. It’s something none of the girls have really grown out of, the pure excitement and relief that comes with seeing each other again.

Eventually, though, they break apart, and an awkwardness sets in. Shelby is quick to take Leah’s bags from her, and quickly starts bustling around the loft, offering her water and describing the place to Leah. Leah wants to be listening, but her awkwardness is quickly drifting away as a fondness replaces the tightness in her chest as Shelby says “It’s not mine, but you get the point”. She can’t help but vaguely remember the plane where they first met, a vague memory of Leah turning away from Shelby and into her book. Suddenly, she lets out a chuckle, and at the noise Shelby stops gesturing around the apartment and halts in place. Leah’s smile only grows when the girl tilts her head at Leah like a puppy.

“It’s nothing,” Leah assures her, “Just, Fatin totally called that you’d be the perfect hostess in this Airbnb.”

Shelby blinks at her for a moment, before chuckling too and smiling at her, tension drawing away from her body. “Of course she did. How is Fatin? I miss her.” 

“She’s…” Leah pauses to let out a different smile. “She’s doing great. She has a recital coming up and she’s acting like she doesn’t want to play but god she’s gonna kill it. I knew she was good but god somehow she’s gotten even better. I didn’t even think that was possible. Dot and I listen to her all the time. I love living with her and Dot.” It’s only when Leah finishes speaking that she realizes that she’s been gushing, but she can’t find it in herself to be embarrassed because Shelby is beaming at her.

“Toni’s got a big game, too. She’s been working out non-stop. She even got Rachel on video call training her,” laughs Shelby. Leah grins back. Toni must be really serious about it if she’s putting up with Rachel’s intense workouts.

“Toni said the roof here has a great view. Shall we?”

Soon enough, the two girls are hauling covers and pillows to the roof along with the snacks Toni shoved into Shelby’s bag and settling in to look at the stars. The awkward silence that followed them at the beginning is gone, and they settle down side by side like two people who had gazed at the stars many a night, who had each other’s backs in the most unusual of situations. Leah can’t help but think of the island, how each time she laid down to look at the stars there was a different girl next to her, a different obstacle they had tackled that day, another life that had almost been taken. The sky here is impressive, but nothing can really match the absolute lack of light pollution the island provided. Alongside those seven girls, that was pretty much everything good she got out of that.

All things considered, it might just be a good deal. Thinking of how close she came to never meeting Shelby, never being friends with  _ Fatin _ , never fails to place a lump in her throat. Just as she’s struggling to swallow around it –  _ how did looking at stars with Shelby get her teary eyed?  _ – Shelby’s voice whispers into the night.

“How is it, living with Dot? You’re not making her a third wheel, are you?”

“Absolutely not. We just click, you know? And I’m pretty sure Fatin is like, in love with Dot.”

Shelby turns to her in surprise. “Wait, like, in love in love? You’re okay with that?”

“Well, yeah. It’s Dot. And I know Fatin’s in love with me too.” When Leah doesn’t hear an answer, she turns her head to see Shelby smirking at her.

“What? What’s that look?”

“Nothing,” Shelby sings.

“No, tell me.”

“Well,” Shelby’s grin is breaking her face now. “It’s just so good to see you so confident about Fatin’s love. Back on the island, we were both worried about being alone. Look at us.”

[cue lookatuswhodhavethoughtnotme.gif]

Leah smiles. Shelby’s right, of course. Leah had no idea what love was, and expressed as much on the island quite often. She remembers the pride the other girls looked at her with when she offered Jeffrey’s book up as kindle, and she remembers her apprehension seeing it burn, wondering if she was just being performative, feeling immediately like she wanted to take it back, to take him back. She had grown so much since then, and eventually her and Fatin grew into each other. It was easier than breathing, to be honest. Even on the island, the blurry images of the girls began to focus, Fatin sticking out most distinctly. She had become Leah’s anchor, keeping her steady when Leah’s mind drifts at sea like it often does.

As Leah sits in the comfortable silence Shelby created, she’s startled when the other girl suddenly blurts out, “Toni and I are gonna move in together.”

Immediately, Leah is jerking up into a sitting position, Shelby matching her as their arms grasp one another. “ _ What?!  _ That’s huge!! Tell me everything.”

Once upon a time, Leah might have been nervous about demanding information from someone else, but she knows Shelby. She can tell the girl wants to gush, and damn, Leah wants to hear it.

Indeed, when Shelby’s mouth opens, what tumbles out is just pure adoration. Leah feels her face hurting from her smile as Shelby describes how Toni stumbled around the words, too shy to outright ask, and eventually Marty just yelled it at her over the phone. She’s heading out to Minnesota next week, and her mom even managed to give her a small send off. Thinking of Shelby now, Leah can’t help but feel pride at how much the girl has grown. On the island, it was practically torture watching Shelby and Toni dance around each other, first trying to keep it a secret and then trying to learn how to be together. Once, when Shelby had broken her ankle, Leah had watched with apprehension as a small Toni-sized hurricane tore through camp trying to make it manageable for her girlfriend. 

“Gosh,” Leah’s the one smirking now.

“What?” Asks Shelby, who’s grinning as well. She’s perfectly aware of the parallel, and they’re both grinning like love-struck idiots.

“It’s nothing,” laughs Leah, throwing Shelby’s words back at her. Shelby lets out a golden laugh in return and shoves Leah playfully.

“No, tell me!”

“It’s just,” Leah’s smirk softens, “You’re so in love with each other.”

Shelby just smiles in return. “Yeah, we are.”

Suddenly, her phone buzzes with a text from Toni. “She’s demanding pictures of us,” laughs Shelby. 

“Shit, Fatin’s probably texted too.” Sure enough, her phone is displaying text after text from Fatin, demanding to know if they’ve played Never Have I Ever again or if they’ve killed each other yet. Happily, Leah clicks open their group chat, mushes her cheek against Shelby’s as they both beam into the picture. The response is immediate.

_ Fatin [9:10pm]: UR ALIVE AND SHELBY YOU HAVE AN UNDERCUT?!!! WHY HAVE I NOT GOTTEN PICS. TONI _

_ Toni [9:10pm]: thats on you _

_ Dot [9:10pm]: great, she’s not gonna shut up about it now _

_ Toni [9:11pm]: did you eat the Takis yet??? _

_ Martha [9:11pm]: how are you guys?? I wish i was there its so pretty and i miss you _

_ Rachel [9:11pm]: Toni, you should be doing your workout right about now. _

Leah and Shelby stay huddled together, faces lit up by the phone screen rather than a fire, and they just can’t stop smiling.


End file.
